In recent years, a high-performance image forming apparatus has been commercially available, so that it has become easy to make a substantially exact copy of an original produced work such as a book or the like.
The book or the like is copyrighted, but the copyright is infringed in many cases, for example, as follows: the book or the like is converted into image data and the image data is distributed without permission of the copyright holder. In order to prevent such illegal distribution of the image data, a technique has been proposed, for example, as follows.
Specifically, a system has been proposed which permits private use of image data but which prevents illegal copying of the image data. In this system, a permission condition for permitting use of image data desired by a user is designated in a server storing the image data, and the user receives the image data from the server in cases where the server permits, in accordance with the permission condition, the user to use the image data. Thus, only in cases where the data converted from a produced work is used for the private purposes, the proposed system permits copying of the data.
Meanwhile, a technique for preventing such a physical produced work as the book from being illegally copied by using a copying machine is described in each of Documents 1 and 2.
For example, Document 1 proposes a copying apparatus which is capable of supporting, in consideration of the copyright of the book, collection of a copying fee set for each copy source. Specifically, in Document 1, a document to be copied is scanned, by using a scanner, together with an extension added to the document. A copying condition correlated with the extension is acquired from a database. The copying, and the collection of the copying fee are carried out in accordance with the copying condition.
Further, Document 2 proposes a storage medium reading apparatus which does not make a comparison between (i) visible information and (ii) information stored in an electronic circuit chip, but which allows prevention of the illegal copying. Specifically, in Document 2, information indicating whether or not a book is permitted to be scanned is stored in a storage medium provided in the book, and the scanning of the book is controlled in accordance with the information.
However, the foregoing conventional arrangements have such a problem that: once a copy of a produced work is made, copying from the copy (such copying being hereinafter referred to as “generation copying”) becomes possible, with the result that a copy of the produced work can be made.
Specifically, in Document 1, an identifier of the copy source is associated with a condition for making a copy of the copy source, and printing for making the copy is permitted in cases where the condition is satisfied. Furthermore, the identifier of the copy source is also associated with a fee-charging condition in the database. The fee-charging condition is acquired from the database. In accordance with the fee-charging condition, a fee-charging process is carried out. In this case, the collection of the copying fee set for each copy source can be supported in consideration of the copyright of the book. However, in cases where a copy of the produced work is used as a master copy, the copying can be carried out for an unlimited number of generations without the fee-charging process. Likewise in Document 2, once the produced work is copied into a recording medium which does not have a data storage medium such as an IC tag, the produced work can be copied from the copy of the produced work. This makes it impossible to prevent propagation of the generation copying.
In addition, Document 3 discloses an image forming apparatus which (i) adds a secret recognition mark to a copy of an image when carrying out copying in a confidential document copy mode, (ii) checks, when scanning a document, whether or not the document has the secret recognition mark, and (iii) prohibits the copying when the mark has been detected.
Further, Document 4 discloses an image forming apparatus which writes, in a recording paper sheet to be outputted, an IR- or UV-detectable specific pattern allowing for tracking-down and prohibition of copying.
Further, Document 5 discloses a copying apparatus which (i) detects, based on image data obtained by scanning an image from a document, whether or not a copy prohibition mark is provided in the document and (ii) prohibits copy output when the copy prohibition mark is detected.
Further, Document 6 discloses an image forming apparatus which uses at least two types of illegal copy prevention technique so as to embed, when outputting a hard copy of a created document, (i) information of the image forming apparatus or (ii) accessory information of the document into the hard copy of the document and which accordingly prevents illegal copying of the document.    (Document 1)    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 209039/2002 (Tokukai 2002-209039; published on Jul. 26, 2002)    (Document 2)    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 164551/2004 (Tokukai 2004-164551; published on Jun. 10, 2004)    (Document 3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 154617/1995 (Tokukaihei 7-154617; published on Jun. 16, 1995): Corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,844    (Document 4) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 319347/1995 (Tokukaihei 7-319347; published on Dec. 8, 1995)    (Document 5) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 189855/2001 (Tokukai 2001-189855; published on Jul. 10, 2001)    (Document 6) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 205661/2003 (Tokukai 2003-205661; published on Jul. 22, 2003)